Transformers Huminated: Home Is Where The Spark Is
by TheWeasel027
Summary: The Humanformer Autobots settle into their new home base, an abandoned automobile manufacturing plant, but the ancient assembly line machinery seems to have developed a mind of its own—or someone else's...
1. The Angry Archer

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

First off, I was hoping to huminize just my favorite episodes, but because of "TaRO"s popularity, I'm gonna do the whole show. I don't plan on really giving any physical descriptions due to my preference of allowing imagination to run free; however, I'll probably put in one or two tidbits. But if you want to see what I think they would look like, just visit my DeviantArt page at .com/ . I don't know whether I want Cybertron to be a country or an artificial planet. I personally think artificial planet is _a lot_ cooler. But I'll just try to avoid that little problem until I can decide. Anywho, enjoy "Home Is Where The Spark Is".

The crickets chirped. The dogs barked. The owls hooted. The bell in the church tower tolled. And standing on top of a court, the Angry Archer eyed his trophy: several bag-loads of fresh, crisp Benjamins being loaded onto an armored truck from below. The guards gave one last look around. The Archer ducked behind a piece of roof architecture. When he heard the sound of the wheels grinding against pavement, in rapid motion he fired an arrow at a building ahead of the truck and swung on the attached rope to the truck.

"Tally ho!" he cheered. He released the rope and rolled onto the roof of the truck to prevent any noise. In one movement, he swept another arrow from his quiver, and shot it at the roof. The magnet in the blunt head held it straight up. A small laser arm from the head burned a hole through and gave the Archer a pleasant view of the prize below.

"Stand and deliver forthwith!" he ordered. The guards appeared shocked at the figure above them for two seconds then raised their guns and fired. The Archer leapt away, and in a manner similar to his arrival, swung from building to building, firing an arrow, swinging on the rope, and repeating. He managed to keep up with the truck but had to slow down to dodge some bullets being fired at him. One of the guards had climbed onto the roof and was now firing at the Archer.

"Doest thou wish to challenge me?!" he questioned the guards sanity. Between two swings, he pulled two arrows out and fired them at the guard. The arrows, which were bonded by a steel cable, went on either side of the guard and forcefully yanked him off the roof and slammed him against a nearby wall. The Archer fired one more dual-cable arrow at him to ensure his immobility. The Archer then continued swinging.

When he realized he wouldn't be able to catch up at this rate, he fired a zip-line arrow. He zoomed forward and released the cable then landed a hundred feet in front of the truck. The Archer fired three dual-cable arrows at the truck's front window. He then fired one end of an arrow at the ground, another at a building wall, and the third end at the wall adjacent. After finishing his plan, he fired a zip-line arrow and moved to a rooftop to watch the chaos to come.

Just as he'd planned, the truck drove past the trap. The arrow cables proved stronger than the truck and yanked the front of it upward. The momentum pulled the truck's back end under the front, but didn't stop there. The cables instantaneously released, allowing the truck to screech down the street on its roof.

When the anarchy ended, the Archer leapt down and admired his handiwork. He fired an arrow at the armored door. Upon impact it exploded leaving a smoking hole in the backside. He couldn't resist chuckling upon seeing the guard's ridiculous position: lying on his upper back and neck with his crotch hanging over his head. The Archer's quick laugh was made quicker when he heard sirens in the distance. He would have to move quickly. He grabbed as many sacks of money as the hooks on his belt could hold and zip-lined away.

"Ha ha ha!" he laughed, "Victory is mine!" Once again, his amusement was interrupted by a rocket-powered axe slicing through the cable. He fell to the ground with a loud thud but immediately recovered and picked himself up.

He looked to see who had caused his fall. A man, Optimus Prime as he'd heard on the news, caught the axe when it returned to him.

"You know, I've got a pretty good feeling that those bags don't belong to you," Optimus said seriously.

"Doest thou dare to challenge the Angry Archer, and attempt a victory of which yon constables could not attain?" The Archer fired an explosive arrow at the Autobot. He dodged it and caught it with his grappling hook then launched it back at Archer who caught it with his robotic left hand.

"I believe the saying is, 'Right back at you,'" Optimus replied.

"I see thou doest possess skills of which few have, opponent," Archer complimented. He fired two dual-cable arrows which Optimus easily sliced through with his axe. Archer then tried two grenadier arrows. Optimus ducked then used his grapplers to force the arrows to hit each other and explode. Archer smirked. He pulled out an arrow and aimed it at a wall. It shot through the air, bounced off the wall, bounced off another wall, and continued to bounce around the alley, smacking Optimus several times and completely missing the Archer who stood perfectly still.

Eventually Optimus managed to keep his eye on the ricocheting arrow, predict when it would attack, then dodged and cut it in half. He rubbed an apple sized bruise on his cheek.

"That all ya got Archer?" Optimus challenged.

"I shan't deny dear nemesis, thou doest have skills equivalent to mine. Hence I shall retreat and return again someday to defeat you," Archer pulled out an arrow, "Ah yes. This shall prove enough a distraction for my getaway." He pointed the arrow into the air and fired. The arrow burst into many pellets which exploded when they hit the ground. Optimus managed to duck into an alley to avoid injury.

Several pellets hit a car sending it into flames. Optimus used the fire foam function of his gauntlets to put out the fire then searched for the Archer. He had already run halfway down the street. Optimus activated his axe's telescoping handle to pole vault into the air. When he was high enough, he shot out a cable net which wrapped itself tightly around the Archer who hit the ground with a thud. Just then the police arrived.

"Oh vexing fate, thou'rt a harsh mistress," the Archer groaned, "I was to be rich! I was to be famous!"

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to settle for famous," Optimus smiled. Some copter-bots arrived then to take some pictures for the news.


	2. Prowl Sees A Cat

In the Detroit Central Park, the Autobot known as Prowl hung upside-down from a tree's branch, staying out of sight from the bystanders below. He could feel the blood rushing to his head, allowing him to think better. He closed his eyes and meditated. But it was soon interrupted by a light "tweet tweet." He opened his eyes. A young bird, a chick he believed it was called, had landed on the branch below him and was now grooming himself completely unaware of the cat behind him. The cat crept silently towards the bird. Its muscles moved like a liquid. It moved so skillfully, so patiently. Prowl watched attentively. He stared in silent awe as the cat crawled on its belly, closer… closer… until…

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! The cat screeched and ran off while the bird flew away. Prowl shielded his eyes against the flying camera-bots.

"Hey everybody! Over here! It's one of the Autobots!" a teenage boy announced to everyone else in the park. Prowl sneered then leapt away and out of the park through the trees.

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"Our new home is coming together nicely," Optimus complimented his teammates' group effort to take an old abandoned manufacturing plant and turn it into a home-slash-base. He and Bumblebee were setting up the television while Bulkhead carried in the couch and Ratchet set up the DTV box.

"If I had _my_ way, we'd never leave," Ratchet grumbled, "They're always watching. Waiting for us to reveal ourselves. And then pounce!"

"The Decepticons?" Optimus asked.

"What? No, I'm talkin' bout those slagging camera-bots!" Just when Ratchet finished setting up the cable, an image of Optimus and the Angry Archer appeared on the news.

"What?! No way! Being a star rocks!" Bumblebee responded, "It's like they say here, 'If the boot fits, wear it.' And I gotta say, I make it look _good_."

"You guys got it easy," Bulkhead replied, "All people want me to do is break stuff. I've got a sensitive side too ya know. I've got emotions! Although, breakin stuff is pretty fun."

"Well either way, you guys have to understand that we're still new to this place," Optimus told them, "It's like that saying, uhh…, oh yeah, 'When in Sparta do what the Spartans do.' Just roll with it." Just then, Prowl opened the door with a bang then slumped his way to his room.

"I guess Prowl didn't get the memo about 'rolling with it,'" Bumblebee commented.

*****************************************************************************

"Prowl, got a sec?" Optimus asked him when he entered Prowl's room. Prowl didn't answer.

"You got any problems? You wanna talk?"

"No," Prowl responded.

"Oh." Optimus looked at the tree that had grown from the center of the room, broken up the floor with its roots, and had managed to grow via a gaping hole in the roof. "You know, you can have another room. One with a roof."

"I like this room," Prowl answered, with a little bit of surprise in his voice, "All of this life, nature, it refuses to be contained. Such a force of will. It's fascinating. Almost astonishing." Prowl picked off a flower. "But everyone else is blind to it! They all _rush_ to see everything but never stop long enough to witness what's around them." In his anger he had crushed the flower. He sighed at the flower then saw a bird perched at the top branch. "Just today, I saw a cat stalking a bird with such grace. Such… stillness." Just then Bumblebee popped up in front of Prowl.

"Can you say, 'super sappy'?" Bumblebee laughed. Prowl grimaced, pushed Bumblebee out of the way, and leapt up the tree.

"What? What I say?"


	3. I Am Megatron!

"Dad? Dad?!" Sari banged on the door to her father's lab as hard as she could. She had spent five minutes preparing him a cup of tea, and he was going to have it whether he wanted to or not. She tried pressing in the password.

"Access denied," the computer answered. Sari sighed. She looked into the peephole. Her dad was snoozing over his lab table. But something caught her eye. To the left she could see some strange equipment surrounding some kind of storage device.

"What is that?" she wondered. She leaned in closer. Her key inserted itself into the door control panel. She pulled it out when sparks started to fly.

"Whoa! Check that out!" Suddenly she got an idea. She pushed the key into the control panel. The computer flashed its lights wildly.

"Access denied! Access—Access—Access granted." The door slid open. She walked into the dark lab. Her eyes wandered to the storage device in the corner of the room. What could it be? It was too dark to see.

"Sari?" She was startled by the dark figure above her, but relaxed when she realized it was just her dad.

"Sari," he yawned, "You know of all people that no one except me is allowed in my lab," yawn, "and rules are rules."

"Well I thought you might be thirsty so I made you some tea." She held up the cup to him.

"Hm. I appreciate your concern, but I am not thirsty." He grabbed the cup and slurped down the tea. "Now I must return to my work," he gasped.

"Uh dad? When was the last time you _ate_?" Sari raised a brow. Sumdac counted on his fingers.

"What's today?" he finally asked. Sari giggled then held his hand.

"Come on, let's get you something to eat," she said.

"Oh but Sari, I am not hungry." His stomach growled like an angry tiger. "Well, maybe just an apple. Or a banana." Sari pulled him out of the lab while he continued talking. "Better make it a _whole_ fruit salad. Oh! And bacon with a cheese omelet."

And while they walked away, the control panel sparked until it started to overflow with electrical energy. The door opened and closed randomly. The residual AllSpark energy traveled through the wiring to every piece of equipment in the lab. Then it all collected in the back-left corner of the lab where the corpse of the fallen Megatron was held in stasis to prevent any decomposition. The energy surged through the pod and gathered inside the body. The heart began to beat. Blood ran through his veins.

"Autobots!" he gasped, "What the?! What happened?! Where am I?! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME?! What kind of integrated system am I hooked into?" In his panic, he felt energy within him rise then travel out of the pod and into a screen. Some security footage of Starscream and the Autobots appeared before him.

"Did I do that?" he wondered. He listened to Starscream's monologue intently.

"You're pathetic. You are inferior! _I_ am better! _I_ was the one who defeated the great Megatron! Not you! I planted the bomb! His fate was sealed before he even _reached your ship_!" A rage built inside him like he'd never felt before. It built up like an overflowing dam until…

"STARSCREEEEEEEAAAAAAM!" he bellowed. His anger seemed to resonate through the lab and shatter an overhead lamp. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT TRAITOR—RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" the energy traveled to a small device and caused it to explode. He then felt his rage reside. His head cleared. He continued watching the footage.

"They don't even know I'm alive," he stopped the video and zoomed in on the AllSpark's image, "This cannot be happening. The AllSpark… within my _reach_. And I am trapped in this prison!" More of his energy traveled through the machinery and gathered in a crane. It shook and moved. Megatron suddenly had an idea. He tried to manipulate it so the crane would move. With each command he thought, the crane obeyed.

"They may still be more than one way to obtain the AllSpark," he whispered. The crane picked up a small droid on a lab table. His energy went from the crane to the droid. "And destroy all who dare oppose me!"


	4. Early Dismissal

"And so, to find the length of the remaining side, simply follow this equation: A2+B2=C2 where C is the hypotenuse, and A and B are the remaining sides," Tudor-bot explained while Sari nodded (the trying not to fall asleep kind), "However in this particular problem, to find the remaining side, the problem must be inverted to C2-B2=A2." Then Sari got an idea to help kill time. She pulled out her key and inserted it into her phone. On the first ring, Bumblebee picked up.

"Hello?" he yawned.

"Bumblebee? Cool," she whispered into the phone, "It's me Sari."

"Sari? How'd you get my comlink frequency?"

"It's my key. I found out that it can do all sorts of—"

"Sari," Tudor-bot interrupted.

"Sorry, gotta go. Talk later," she hung up on Bumblebee and put away the phone then tried to hide the key behind her back.

"Please give me that key," Tudor-bot reached behind Sari's back.

"Okay then," Sari smirked evilly.

**********************************************************************

"For weeks I could not get these pocket-bots to work," Isaac watched the small droid scurry over the desk. He grabbed it, picked it up, and looked it over, "I must have fixed them in my sleep perhaps?" Then it occurred to him, "Or…" He set down the droid, which scuffled off, then typed in the number for Sari's phone. She picked up the vid-chat on the second ring.

"Hi dad!" she greeted with a smile.

"Sari, have you 'tinkered' with anything in my lab by any chance?"

"Tinkered? I promise you dad," she closed her eyes and raised her right hand, "I have _never_ messed with anything of yours." Just then Tudor-bot danced across the background.

"Class dismissed for the week! Cla-cla-cla-clazzz!" he buzzed. Sari smiled nervously.

"Besides!" Sari tried to draw his attention away from the malfunctioning bot, "I've been too busy helping the Autobots settling into their new secret base." At the mention of "base" Megatron awoke in his pod and listened closely.

"And just where might this secret base be?"

"Well if I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret," she winked.

"Cla-class dis-dismissed for-for-fore-forever!" Tudor-bot continued.

"Bye dad!" Sari clicked off the chat. Isaac noticed something was missing.

"I thought I'd had another one of those pocket-bots," he searched for the other droid, "Now where could it have gone to?"

The missing droid had escaped through a ventilation shaft and was now searching its way through to Sari's private classroom. It found its way using some schematics Megatron had downloaded into its memory. When it reached the room, it used a mini-laser to burn through the vent and then jumped down to the floor. It scuttled across the floor and crawled into Sari's backpack.

"Cla-cla-class di-dis-dismissed," Tudor-bot twittered. Sari took some pity on the poor, bot, that was now doing a headstand, and removed her key from its chest plate. The bot became stiff then fell limp on its back. She picked up the rest of her stuff and placed it inside her backpack.

"Autobots, here I come!" she picked up her backpack and left the class. Afterall, it was early dismissal day according to Tudor-bot.


	5. The Slumber Party

"As the caterpillar hangs from the branch mid-metamorphosis, a marvelous miracle of nature occurs within." Prowl watched the television slack-jawed as the once caterpillar emerged from the cocoon as a butterfly. It was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. Then Bumblebee changed the channel. Deafeningly loud rock music blasted from the sound system. Prowl was knocked onto his back from the sheer force of the sound.

"Hey Prowl, hope you don't mind that I changed it to something that won't bore us to tears. You don't? Thanks Prowl, you're the best," Bumblebee lied back on the couch and smiled. Prowl got on all fours and positioned himself, just as the cat had done. Then pounced! He knocked Bumblebee down and landed on top of him. Then as quickly as he'd gotten on him, Prowl pounced off then away.

"What's gotten into him?" Bulkhead wondered.

"Oh yeah! Sure! Go on while the rest of us have some _FUN_!" Bumblebee shouted.

"Speaking of fun," Sari intruded, "I say we get this sleepover started."

"Sleepover?" Bulkhead scratched his head.

"It's where a bunch of friends get together and play, tell stories. Ya know? Hang out," Sari explained.

"So where do we hang this out?" Optimus picked up a sleeping bag and looked through it.

"You don't hang it," Sari giggled, "You sleep in it. But! Remember, the first rule of sleepovers: No one sleeps."

"Ooh, this sleepover stuff is hard," Bulkhead rubbed his temples.

**********************************************************************

Meanwhile, right under the Autobots' noses, the Megatron-possessed pocketbot was scuttling though the factory searching.

"You Autobot fools are the keepers of the AllSpark?" Megatron said to himself, "This must be some kind of cosmic idea of a joke." Roughly two hours later, he was still looking.

"The AllSpark must be here _somewhere_," he assured himself.

******************************************************************

Back at the base, Sari's sleepover had begun with Bumblebee and Bulkhead playing Holo-Twister.

"Left hand on green!" she announced. Bulkhead reached for the nearest green, but his girth prevented him. Bumblebee was also blocked by Bulkhead's mass.

"So, this is some kind of dexterity exercise?" Optimus observed.

"It's a game," Sari answered, "Ya know? For fun. Now, right foot on orange!" Sari pressed a button on the board and some untouched blocks flashed orange. Bumblebee noticed Prowl walking to the kitchen.

"Hey Prowl!" he called, "You're all into that whole 'balance and agility' junk. Why not lending a hand? Or a right foot?" Prowl sighed. He leapt up and landed with his left hand on a green block, followed by his right on red, then right foot on orange and left foot on purple. Bulkhead gasped. All of the blocks flashed different colors and turned off. Prowl easily rolled out of his contorted position and went back to the kitchen. Bulkhead's arms gave out and he landed on top of Bumblebee's head.

"Hey! Where ya goin?" Bulkhead asked. Bumblebee managed to force his head out from underneath Bulkhead's gut.

"What's the matter? We not 'still' enough for you?" Bumblebee called, "Well ya know what ?! Fine! Hope you enjoy watching THE GRASS GROW!"

******************************************************************

"The search is futile!" Megatron concluded, "I've searched all over this facility and come out with nothing!" Then Megatron came up with a thought that cheered him up if just a little. "At least I can still _annihilate_ the Autobots responsible for my fall…"

********************************************************************

"And then, the old man _vanished_! In a cackle of _evil_ laughter," Sari whispered loudly with the flashlight purposely placed under her chin for maximum eerie.

"Ahem," Ratchet interrupted, "What would the point of this story be anyway?"

"You're always supposed to tell scary stories at slumber parties," she answered.

"Well I'm not scared," Bumblebee smiled and puffed out his chest with his fists on his waist.

"Oh don't worry, I'm only _just_ getting to the good part," Sari sneered. Behind her back, she inserted her key into a nearby crane. "Then, with the old man gone, the three children were now all alone in the _spooky_ house," Sari continued, "Then, just when they thought the scares had ended, there was a horrible _scraping noise_." She manipulated the crane to scratch against the ground causing a loud metallic screech.

"Did you guys hear that?!" Bumblebee gasped.

"What's the matter Bee? Feeling _scared_ yet?" Sari grinned.

"I already told you, I'm not scared!"

"Good then, back to the story," she smiled, "Then, the old man's ghost, sneaked up behind the youngest kid," the crane moved right behind Bumblebee who was doing his best to hide how badly he was shaking and sweating, "And then—!"

****************************************************************

Prowl was meditating in his room. But Bumblebee had once again ruined Prowl's concentration. This time with a horrible scream. Prowl sighed. Would he ever get some peace and quiet?

***************************************************************

"AAAAAHH! PUTMEDOWN! PUTMEDOWN! PUTMEDOWN!" Bumblebee demanded.

"Too sweet!" Sari laughed, "You shoulda heard yourself scream Bumblebee!" The crane set down Bumblebee and patted him on the head. Bumblebee pulled his jacket over his head and pouted (with a blush).

***************************************************************

"Laugh now child," Megatron told the image of Sari laughing, "for I will show you true fear." The pocket-bot crawled to the control panel of the factory and opened up the casing to the wiring. It began to rewire the circuitry then inserted a cord into a drive.

******************************************************************

"Sari how'd you do that?" Prime asked her. The crane tapped Bumblebee on the head earning an "Ow!" from the Autobot.

"It's my key. It doesn't just fix you guys up. I found out that I can do all kinds of other stuff with it too!" Sari told them. Then, the remaining lights went off, and red lasers moved across the area. All of the cranes and machinery on the assembly lines started moving.

"That, though, wasn't me," Sari peeped.


	6. Haunted Auto Factory

"Everyone take cover!" Ratchet warned everyone else. Just then, one of the mechanical arms fired red hot rivets at the floor like bullets. They managed to get out of the way just as the bolts tore apart the sleeping bags. Two pincers grabbed Ratchet and Bumblebee and threw them against the wall.

"What's happening?!" Bumblebee exclaimed. Bulkhead meanwhile was avoiding a flamethrower. Sari was trying to get out of the way of a laser and tripped. A riveter reared up and fired. But Optimus had arrived just in time and swept Sari out of the way of the rivets.

"This is definitely not me!" she shouted. Just then, Prowl entered the room.

"This party is getting out of hand!" he intruded. Some riveters fired at the ninja who in turn jumped out of the way just in time. Ratchet leapt in the way and used a magnetic field to bounce the bullets away. Two pincers picked up some gas tanks, snapped off the nozzle, and the tanks became bootleg rockets which propelled themselves through the air. Ratchet dodged them, but the force of the explosion still sent him flying.

"Are you okay?" Optimus ran to Ratchet and looked at his bruises and scratches.

"Don't worry about me!" Ratchet brushed his hand away, "Someone's gotta shut down the assembly line!" He pointed at the control console at the north corner of the room. Bumblebee heard him and decided to take matters into his own hands. He activated the motorized wheels on his shoes and skated through the room to the control panels.

"This looks like a job for heels on wheels!" Two rockets hit right in front of him and knocked him down. Then three pincers grabbed his arms and legs and forced him onto a conveyor belt. He fought and struggled until he was free. But before he could jump off, a flamethrower shot fire at him. He leapt away but was still singed by some stray flames.

"Hot hot hot!" he exclaimed, patting away the flames. Bulkhead snuck up behind the flamethrowers and smashed them with his wrecking ball.

"Ha! Who needs 'sensitive'? Smashing stuff _is_ fun!" he laughed.

**************************************************************************

"Thick skulled moron. Let's see if I can _crush_ that smile off your face," Megatron sneered.

***************************************************************************

Several pincers grabbed Bulkhead and wrestled him down onto an assembly line. Bulkhead's heart sank when he saw that he was heading straight for a die press.

"This can't be good," Bulkhead gasped. He broke his arms free of the pincer's grip, grabbed the sides of the die press, and pushed himself away from the entrance and the slamming press.

"Ah slag!" he felt his arms trembling and the assembly line treads grinding against his back while the pincers tried to push him in.

"Hang on Bulkhead!" Optimus ran to Bulkhead's rescue. He jammed his axe's handle into the gears of the assembly line and turned it with all his might. Bulkhead felt himself being pulled away from the die press. Optimus's plan was working. But, an electromagnet appeared over Optimus and magnetically towed Optimus's gauntlets, and him, up. Optimus tried to detach his gauntlets, but his hands were bound to the magnet. Bulkhead was soon back in his previous predicament.

Meanwhile, Prowl had an idea.

"Everyone!" he alerted, "Stand still."

"Forget stillness! We need action!" Bumblebee protested. He roller skated and stung at some pincers but was knocked back by two more rockets.

"It's all connected to motion sensors! Stand still!" Prowl reiterated. Ratchet, after managing to get up, took Prowl's advice and stood as still as he could when two lasers pointed at him. Two pincers shot straight for him, but lost their target and attacked the nearest moving thing: each other. Sari inserted her key into a pincer's control box. It gripped onto the other and pulled until they both broke apart.

"Bout time you used that thing for something useful," Ratchet winked.

**************************************************************************

"Zoom in on quadrant 45-67!" Megatron ordered. The droid's camera showed him an image of several gas tanks near some open flames. "It's time to finish this," he decided. A pincer struck a hole in the fuel tank letting the gasoline drip out.

***********************************************************************

"If I can just make it to the control panel, I can shut this all down!" Prowl alerted his fallen teammates. He scanned the room for his path. He took into account everything: the lasers, pincers, magnets, flamethrowers, and assembly lines. He took a deep breath and sped towards the panel, aided by his jump boosters. He remembered the cat he'd seen what felt like a year ago and stopped. The lasers scanned him and found no movement.

"Stillness," he reminded himself. The lasers darted away. "And strike!" he activated his jump boosters and shot across the floor on all fours. He made a U-turn and skidded across the floor gracefully.

"Stillness," the lasers once again searched for any movements, but didn't find so much as a twitch. "And strike." He leapt up, grabbed and spun on a horizontal pole, and used the momentum to shoot himself at the control panel. He was now mere feet away from the panel. All it would take is one last strike.

**********************************************************************

"The motion sensors may be blind to you Autobot," Megatron watched Prowl leap across the room to the control panel, "But I am not!"

*********************************************************************

The lasers moved away from Prowl. This was it. He made his leap but a pincer made a 360' spin and struck him in the stomach. He flew across the room and was caught by some more pincers.

"No!" He tried to struggle but he was held too tightly. The hit had knocked a lot out of him. With all others down, it was hopeless. Then he remembered. Bumblebee.

"It's up to you now Bumblebee!" he looked at the only Autobot that was still standing, "Remember! Stillness!"

"From Bumblebee?!" Bulkhead protested, still struggling against the assembly line.

"Just remember: Stillness and strike! Just like the cat!"

"In case you haven't noticed," Bumblebee objected, sweat dripping down his face, "I'm not the one who spends all my time looking at stupid _cats_!"

"Slag it Bumblebee just listen to me and focus! Wait for the right time!" Bumblebee gulped and nodded. "Ready? Go!" Bumblebee ran as fast as he could, ducking and dodging the lasers.

"Stop!" Bumblebee halted and looked angrily at Prowl. "Go!" Bumblebee's motorized wheels activated sending him roller-skating across the floor. He leaned forward to gain some speed.

*****************************************************************************

"Antiquated machines!" Megatron raged at the bootleg "weapons", "Destroy him!"

***************************************************************************

Five makeshift rockets shot at Bumblebee. Prowl watched in horror as the explosion engulfed his yellow-jacketed friend. But just then, Bumblebee zoomed out of the inferno without a scratch. A pincer tried to strike him, but he ducked and grabbed it. It spun around, and he let go, sending him flying right at the control panel. He yanked off some plating revealing crisscrossing wires. He activated his glove-mounted stingers and shot a bolt of electricity through the circuitry. The control panel buzzed and twittered until some of the parts burst in small explosions.

The equipment shut off. Optimus jumped down from the magnet. Bulkhead pushed away the pincers and rubbed his aching shoulders. Prowl was released by the pincers. The lasers deactivated. Then Optimus noticed something in the corner of his eye: a leaking fuel tank next to an open flame.

"The fuel tanks!" he exclaimed, "They're gonna blow!" Prowl tossed a star at the fuel tank's support allowing it to roll on its side. Optimus grabbed it with his bolo cables and threw it upward. Ratchet used his magnetizers to send it through a skylight and into the sky. The gas touched the fire, sending a flame up the trail of fuel and into the tank which immediately exploded.

*********************************************************************

"So wait," Sari interrupted the moment of calm, "If my key didn't do this, then what did?" Just then the pocket-bot scurried across the floor. Optimus picked it up by its spider-like leg.

"Whatever it was, it was smart enough to merge the motion sensors with the assembly line," Ratchet commented. The droid managed to wriggle free of Optimus' hold and scuffle away.

"Catch it we need to examine it," Optimus told the others.

"Got it!" Bulkhead grabbed onto it and held it tightly. The droid beeped. The beeps became faster.

"Throw it! NOW!" Prowl ordered. Bulkhead listened and threw it as hard as he could. It landed with a clunk in a corner. It then self-destructed in an explosion that would've otherwise been fatal.

"I guess now we can't examine it," Bulkhead observed.

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"I had them!" Megatron's anger emanated throughout the lab. "They should've been destroyed! I can_not_ remain in this _unacceptable_ status! I need a body! A new body!" He then developed a plan. It would take some time and all his cunning, but the result would end the same.

"Perhaps it's time I revealed a little more of my Cybertronian knowledge to the dear professor…"

**********************************************************************

"Be still. Focus. Relax," Prowl breathed.

"I am all about 'stillness,'" Bumblebee replied calmly.

"Left elbow on red!" Sari called. This time, Bumblebee was easily able to reach the glowing Twister square.

**********************************************************************

END…


End file.
